Emma
by esor6
Summary: When 11 year old Maureen Stabler thinks her best friend is being abused, she hopes her dad and his team will be able to help her. *warning- child abuse*
1. chapter 1

"This is your fault!" He yelled, staggering over towards Emma. "She left because of you!"

He was much closer now, and Emma could smell the alcohol all over his breath.

He slapped her across the face, hard, and she whimpered, trying to crouch down against a corner in her room.

"P-please Daddy, I'm s-sorry!" She said, her eyes filled with tears.

She didn't even know what she was apologizing for... Emma had been subjected to various beatings since she was around five, but as she grew older, they only grew in frequency and intensity.

"I-I'm sorry!" She said again, hoping her words would reach her father.

Her mother had always known about the beatings, but never said anything. She acted like they were normal, so Emma learned to as well.

But the week before her mother had left, and now every day she was beaten worse than ever before until her dad passed out from the alcohol he chugged from the moment he got home.

"Daddy please!" She tried again, but all it got was a sharp, hard kick to her shin. Another bruise immediately started forming there surrounded by others.

"Get up!" He ordered her

She stayed crouched against her wall, trembling, not knowing what to do.

"Da-daddy please stop, your h-hurting me" she said.

He yanked her up by the arm and threw her on the bed, then paused.

First, she was relieved, thinking he was to tired to continue with his beating, but his eyes had a sinister look to them, and that feeling of relief washed off just as soon as she felt it.

"Take off your shirt." He growled.

"What?!" Emma exclaimed, terrified. He had always beat her, but this was something he had never done.

"Take it off!" He yelled, much more angry now.

Trembling, she began to lift it above her head, and he yanked off her pants and underwear before it even made it off of her body.

"You're mother left because of YOU!" He repeated "So now, you're going to give me what she can't" he said with an evil look.

He stood up and unbuckled his belt, and his pants fell to the floor.

Emma didn't know what he was talking about, or what he was going to do, but knew it couldn't be good with the evil smile that was spread across his face.

He returned to the bed and pinned her arms above her head with one hand, and started groping her small body with the other.

"Daddy stop p-please I don't li-like this" she said squirming, her eyes welling up with new tears.

As usual, he ignored her. He forced her small legs open and without warning thrust all the way inside of her.

Emma screamed, louder than she had ever screamed in a beating. It was pain unlike anything she had felt.

"NO!" She yelled "Daddy stop STOP!" She screamed again, but her kept thrusting hard in and out of her, until he came on the sheet under her.

After another punch to her eye, he staggered out of her room.

Emma stayed, frozen, confused, and in excruciating pain. She eventually looked down to see a tennis-ball sized pool of blood on the sheets between her legs, next to something clear and sticky.

She jumped up, ignoring the pain, and got into a scalding hot shower, scrubbing every inch of her.

Tears were still streaming silently from her small eyes when she walked back into her room and huddled down in the corner, and eventually fell asleep there.

Morning came too soon as she heard the loud beep of her alarm clock, and groaned.

She opened her eyes, confused for a second as to why she was on the floor, before the pain of the previous nights memories washed back over her.

She looked down and saw purple marks across her wrists from where her father had pinned her hands.

She stood up, and started walking to her dresser but the pain coming from between her legs was so bad, that she had to pause and grit her teeth before forcing herself to continue. With each step it was like a knife going through her, but she knew she couldn't miss the bus.

Even though she was only 11, she was able to expertly apply concealer to her cheek where another bruise had formed. Her mother had always made sure she did to cover bruises before going to school, so she knew she shouldn't stop now even with her mom gone.

She brushed her teeth, and put on leggings and a long sleeve tee shirt to hide her injuries, despite how warm the fall weather was.

She silently crept out into the kitchen and saw that thankfully, her dad was still passed out on the couch. She put together a lunch of scraps that she found in various cabinets and managed to make it outside just in time for the bus.

Relieved that she hadn't missed it, she climbed on and saw as usual, her best friend Maureen Stabler saving a seat next to her in the front.

"Hey Emma!" She greeted, moving her backpack.

"H-hey Maureen." She said back, trying not to act out of the ordinary.

"How was your weekend?" She chirped

"Um, it was good" Emma lied. "How was yours?"

"So fun! My dad had off work so we got to go play tag and soccer in the park and then we got ice cream!" She said, smiling.

Emma smiled back, wondering what it must be like to have parents who played outside and bought you ice cream.

"And tonight" Maureen continued "were all gonna get pizza and Kathleen is having her friend over and- oh! Maybe you can come over!" Maureen said, proud of her idea.

Emma nodded eagerly, grateful for any excuse to get her away from her dad for the night. "That'd be so fun!" She said, truthfully.

"I'll ask mommy when we get to school." Maureen said. Her mom worked part time as a secretary at the elementary school's front office.

Emma nodded.

A/N-- What do you think? Leave me a review to let me know your thoughts and ideas so I can decide if it's worth continuing! :)


	2. Chapter 2

By homeroom, everything was settled. Mrs. Stabler called to check with Emma's dad who, not wanting to raise suspicion, agreed to let her go home with Maureen that day.

Maureen was happy that she would get to have a friend over too like Kathleen, and Emma was just grateful that she could avoid another beating, and spend time with her best friend.

The morning flew by with math, social studies, and English, and before long, recess rolled around.

Maureen and Emma were engaged in a very intense round of hide and seek: their favorite playground game.

One of their classmates was at 20 seconds and both girls were out of ideas.

Hearing him get to 15, Maureen pulled Emma's arm and giggling, the two girls ran to the edge of the school's playground, hidden in a small slope between the playground and school fence.

"Good idea" Emma said, laughing

"Shh!" Maureen said, but she was laughing too.

Without thinking, Emma wiped the small droplets of sweat that had formed on her face from running, inadvertently wiping some makeup off with it.

"Emma!" Maureen whisper-yelled, "what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Emma whispered back, confused

Maureen pointed towards her cheek. "Your face!" She explained

Emma immediately put her hand as if to cover the bruise.

"I- um.. the ball hit me in soccer" Emma lied

"But we didn't have a game this week" Maureen said, the look of confusion on her face growing.

"Yeah.. no.. I, I mean my cousins and I played yesterday. That's how I got it."

"But y-"

"Found ya!" Their classmate said, ambushing their hiding spot.

Emma had never felt so grateful to lose a game.

She did her best to hide it the rest of the day with her hand, or hair, or anything.

No one else seemed to notice her mistake and Maureen didn't ask about it again, but Emma could tell she was looking at it still.

Nonetheless, 3 o'clock came and they were back next to each other on the bus to Maureen's house, now discussing their favorite animals.

A few minutes later, the bus stopped in front of the Stabler's house, and Emma and Maureen put their backpacks on and made their way to the front of the bus.

"Thank you!" Emma told the bus driver

"See you tomorrow!" Maureen added, jumping off the bus.

Mrs. Stabler was already inside drying dishes when they went in.

"Hey girls!" She greeted, "How was school?"

"Good!" They answered together.

She smiled.

"When will daddy be home?" Maureen asked

She glanced up at the clock. "A couple of hours. Why don't you two go play in your room? Just not too loud, the twins are sleeping" she reminded

Maureen nodded and the two raced up the stairs into Maureen's room.

She pulled out her dollhouse and the two picked their favorite barbies to play with.

"What did you get on the math test?" Maureen asked

Emma sighed and made a face. "71" she answered

"Really?" Maureen replied, surprised. "But you always do so good at math!"

Emma shrugged "It was a hard test."

She hasn't been able to focus the whole time she took that test. Her dad was drunk late the night before and beat her. It left her in too much pain to fall asleep, so was up late nursing her bruises. She sighed, bringing herself back to reality.

"I heard that Sam got in trouble for drawing bad words in the bathroom" Emma said

"No way!" Maureen answered. "I _knew_ it was her!"

Without thinking, Emma pushed her sleeve up to look at the watch on her left arm, forgetting the bruises that were there from where her dad had pinned her arms the night before.

"Emma!" Maureen gasped. "What happened?!"

"Oh it's nothing" Emma said, pulling her sleeve back down"

"But-"

"Girls, come set the table!" Mrs. Stabler called

"Come on" Emma said, standing up, silently scolding herself. She needed to be more careful, she wouldn't keep getting these close saves.

Maureen stood up and followed her downstairs, but she couldn't stop thinking about her friend. Why did she have all those bruises? And why wouldn't she talk about them?

 **Thanks for reading and thanks for the feedback. Please please review! The more comments and suggestions I get the more it motivates me to write :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N warning- the end of this chapter contains graphic child abuse.**

Just as the two were finishing setting the table, the door opened and Mr. Stabler came in.

"Hi Daddy!" Maureen exclaimed, running to greet him.

He kissed her on the forehead. "Hi sweetheart! How was school?" He asked

Maureen shrugged. "Boring"

He nodded, "Yeah well.. only 8 more years to go!" He said with a wink

Maureen giggled, "But that's so long!" she replied.

He returned her smile and walked around the table, passing Emma on the way.

"Hey Emma!" He greeted, patting her shoulder as he passed by.

She winced instinctively at the touch, but tried to cover her mistake.

"Hi Mr. Stabler" she replied.

Elliot noticed his daughters friends flinch, but brushed it off.

He needed to stop bringing his work mind home with him.

"Hi honey" he greeted Kathy, planting a kiss on her cheek.

She smiled, "Glad you're home. Can you go get the twins? They should be waking up from their nap soon."

He nodded, already walking up the stairs.

Emma couldn't help but be a little jealous at how friendly Mr. Stabler was. She wished her dad was like him. She bet _he_ never hurt Maureen or any of her siblings.

It just was not fair.

* * *

Dinner was delicious, and family cards was even more fun. Emma had almost forgotten being upset while playing with her best friend and her family.

"Let's play again!" Maureen announced

"No no honey" Kathy stepped in "Its already 7! We've got to get Emma home and start getting ready for bed."

Maureen sighed. " _Fine"_ agreed

She and Emma went to gather her things, and Emma's doom slowly returned.

Soon she wouldn't be safe anymore.

She'd be back.

Back in her house.

Back with her dad.

It wasn't fair.

The two went back down the stairs.

"Dads in the car!" Kathy called out from the kitchen.

Emma only lived a few miles from the Stabler house, so it wasn't a far drive.

Emma wished it was further.

In a matter of minutes the car pulled up the short driveway, and Elliot put the car in park, ready to get out with Emma and Maureen.

"I'll just go say hi to your folks, if that's ok" Elliot said

"O-oh no um my dads probably asleep." Emma said a little too quickly

"Asleep?" Elliot questioned, glancing at the clock.

"Yeah, he had an early meeting" Emma lied getting out of the car. "Thank you for the ride, see you tomorrow Maureen!" She called, shutting the door before Elliot could even reply.

He watched as she walked up to the house and let herself in.

His gut started getting a bad feeling, like it did when he was on a case.

 _"Stop making everything a crime"_ he scolded himself, backing out of the driveway.

"Do you still have any homework?" He asked, turning his attention back to Maureen.

"Nope, did it all in study hall!" She replied

"That's my girl" he said with a smile, and the two drove back to the Stabler household to get ready for bed.

* * *

"How was Mollys?" Emma's dad slurred as she came in the door, with fake sweetness.

"Maureen. It was good" Emma corrected, trying to go off to bed unharmed.

No such luck.

He grabbed her arm and yanked her back, hard, till she was face to face with him.

"Don't you dare walk away from me when I talk to you!" He roared, and shoved her back into the corner of the counter top.

She whimpered, falling to the ground.

"I-I'm sorry Dad, please don't hurt me. Not tonight please."

His only response was throwing his now empty beer can at her face.

She shielded it from hitting her, only to be yanked up by her hair.

"Get in your room you slut" he spat, shoving her towards her room and following.

No.

Not again.

She couldn't handle it again.

Once in her door frame she was pushed down on her bed and heard the zipper of her dads pants being pulled down.

He kicked off his jeans and underwear.

Emma thought the was going to be sick.

"Take your shirt off" he ordered her.

She shook her head, whimpering, "Daddy please don't." She said

He didn't listen. He never did.

Within a minute her shirt and pants were ripped from her body and she laid helpless under his restraint.

She closed her eyes but that didn't stop her from feeling his dirty hands groping all over her.

Then, without warning, he shoved all the way inside her.

She screamed out in pain.

"STOP! Please it hurts!" She yelled, trying to squirm away.

He laughed gruffly and thrust harder into her.

"It's supposed to hurt for you" he said.

Her pulled his weapon out of her and pulled her so she was sitting up.

"Lick it" he ordered.

She shook her head fiercely, trying to inch back.

"Was I asking you?" He shouted, slapping her head.

"WAS I?" He yelled again, getting no response.

Slowly and unsurely, Emma did as she was told.

After a minute she couldn't take it any more.

She removed her mouth and vomited off the side of her bed, sick from her fathers taste.

He laughed and stumbled out of her room.

It was going to be another long night for Emma.

 **Sorry it's been so long! If you have just another minute, it'd be awesome if you could leave a review? I love hearing feedback so I know how to continue with the story! I'll post another chapter once I get to 10 reviews! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone! Could you please leave a review and let me know what you think? Pretty please? The more reviews I get the faster I write! :)**

Emma tried to sleep.

She really did.

Twice she managed to fall asleep only to be woken by horrible nightmares of her father coming back into her room that left her thrashing in her bed and gasping for breath when she woke up.

At 4am, she gave up on getting any more sleep for that night and decided to work ahead on her homework.

Especially after just doing to poorly on her math test, she could use all the extra practice she could get. Besides, some nights her fathers beatings made it impossible to even write because her hands hurt too much or she was too dizzy.

She could never control when that was, so at least she'd be ahead to avoid more failing grades.

At 6:30, she finally stopped her work and packed her backpack up.

She knew she'd need extra time to cover all her marks: new and old.

Especially after what happened with Maureen, she couldn't take any more chances. That'd been way to close.

She had her work cut out for her upon seeing the marks around her wrists deeper shades of purple, a bruise around her eye, and a mark on her jawline.

And those were just the first ones she saw.

Sighing, she again dressed in long pants and a long sleeved shirt, then took out her foundation, concealer, and powder and expertly erased all the marks the best she could.

After that, she packed what she could find for lunch, and brushed her teeth before going outside and getting on the bus.

* * *

Meanwhile, Elliot was busy getting the kids ready for school before Kathy lost her mind.

It was a rare day off for him, so he wanted to help as ,couch as he could.

Getting 5 kids dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:15 was no easy task.

But as Elliot was finishing pouring cereal for the twins, he still couldn't shake his feeling about Maureen's friend.

Something just didn't feel right in his gut when he dropped her off...

* * *

Now sitting on the bus, Emma's lack of sleep was finally catching up with her.

Maureen was chatting away happily like normal, but Emma just couldn't find the energy to fake it this morning, so she mostly nodded and smiled while offering a few words of agreement here and there.

In reality, she didn't even know what they were talking about.

"so then I told her no way but she- Emma? Emma?" Maureen said, breaking Emma out of her thoughts.

"What? Yeah, sorry, I totally agree" she said quickly

Maureen laughed. "You're so out of it today! Are you ok?" She asked, her face now reflecting the concern she was feeling towards her friend.

"Yeah, I'm just tired" Emma assured as the bus arrived at school.

The two walked into homeroom and took their seats for announcements.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Emma asked, trying to make up for her lack of participation in the bus conversation.

"Hm, not sure" Maureen answered. "We could do something together after the soccer game!" Maureen suggested.

 _Shoot_ Emma thought. _How was she going to play a soccer game that weekend? She could barely walk without showing the pain from her fathers newest nightly attacks. How could she run during a game?_

"Yeah sounds fun" Emma lied. She needed to figure a way out of the game.

"Good morning Ridgewood elementary, today is October 12th and.." the announcements started.

Emma already felt exhausted.

It was a Tuesday, which was Emma and Maureen's least favorite day because they had the least amount of classes together.

Emma was in a higher reading level and Maureen was in a higher science, so the only class they had together that day was math right before lunch.

Waving goodbye to Maureen, Emma left for her first period English class.

The day seemed to take forever, and Emma couldn't concentrate at all.

By last period, her teacher could tell something was off just from her behavior.

Emma wasn't typically a student to be nodding off in class, and her last couple assignments received very poor grades, which was unlike her.

She also could've sworn she saw a bruise next to her eye, but couldn't tell if it was just the light or not.

When the bell rang to go back to homeroom, Emma heard her teacher ask her to stay back for a minute.

 _Great_ she thought. _What did I do?_

"Hey Emma" her teacher said gently, coming to sit next to her in the now empty science lab.

Now that she was closer, her teacher could definitely see that there was, indeed a bruise next to her eye. Not only that, it was clear that she had tried to cover it, but the makeup was fading.

"I just noticed you weren't acting like yourself lately, and wanted to see if you needed to talk about anything?"

Emma shook her head and tried to put her best look of fake happiness on her face.

"No, I'm fine Ms. Roser. I just didn't get that much sleep last night, my neighbors were having a really loud party" she lied. "Thank you though" she said with a forced smile and tried to get her up her books to leave.

"Hang on just a second" her teacher said kindly, pulling her wrist away from getting her bag.

Emma winced at the pain from the contact with her bruised wrist.

"Emma, what's wrong?" Her teacher asked, concerned.

When she didn't reply, her teacher gently pulled up the sleeve on her arm, revealing a bruised and swollen wrist.

"Oh Emma sweetheart, what happened?" She asked, horrified at what she saw.

"I'm sorry Ms. Roser, I really have to go." Emma said, putting her backpack on.

"The bus is here and I don't want to miss it!" She said, seeing the bus pull into the school parking lot from the window. "See you tomorrow." She said, and left the room.

Emma was mad at herself. How could she have been so stupid and let her teacher see that?

Ms. Roser knew something bad was happening to Emma. She promised herself to talk to the nurse in the morning and bring Emma there to sort whatever it was out.

On the bus, Emma was happy to see Maureen. They barely saw each other all day, and Emma missed her friend.

"Hey Maureen" she greeted, sitting down at the usual spot next to her friend.

"Hey!" She greeted. "I didn't see you like, at all today!"

Emma made a face. "I know. Tuesday schedules are the worst."

"Why was Ms. Roser talking to you during study hall? I saw when I passed by to get a drink."

Maureen inquired

"She kept asking me if I was ok and wouldn't stop bothering me. I was trying to leave and she wouldn't let me! I can't believe her." Emma ranted.

Maureen didn't answer.

"What?" Emma asked, confused as to why her friend wasn't agreeing.

"Well... it's just you have been acting kind of weird lately. Not in a bad way!" She reassured "I'm just worried about you. And... you know... the" she looked around so no one could hear "the _bruises"_ she whispered.

"Those. Were. Accidents" Emma whispered back angrily

The bus stopped at Emma's house, and she gathered her things.

"Bye" she said coldly.

Maureen was stunned. What had gotten into her best friend?

She walked into her house on the verge of tears. Had she done something wrong? Why was Emma so upset with her?

Maureen walked in and saw her dad at the sink, washing dishes.

"Hey sweetie!" He greeted "how was school?"

Maureen didn't answer, she just stormed past to walk to her room.

Elliot could tell something was wrong with his daughter right away.

"Woah woah there" he said, meeting her at the base of the stairs. "What's wrong honey?"

"It's nothing" Maureen grumbled back

"It doesn't look like nothing" he said gently, wiping away an escaped tear with his thumb.

"Come on" he said leading her back to the kitchen table. "You know you can always talk to me about anything, right sweetie?" He asked

She nodded.

"Good, so what's going on?" He asked, concerned.

She hesitated but answered, "It- it's Emma..."

 **Pretty please review? It would mean so much. Elliot will find out/ talk to Emma starting next chapter... the more reviews I get the faster I'll write! Have a great day!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Please review! And I hope you like it!**

She hesitated but answered, "It- it's Emma..."

Elliot was surprised, and kicked himself for ignoring his gut. If that child was hurt..

"What's wrong with Emma sweetie?" He asked, using the voice he typically reserved for interviewing children at work.

"She.. I... I don't know" Maureen stammered, frustrated. "She's acting weird, and I saw these bruises on her but she wouldn't tell me what they were from and then when I brought the, up she acted really mean towards me and I didn't even do anything" she confided.

"Why is she acting so weird Daddy?" She asked, desperate for advice from her father.

Elliot sighed and rubbed his temple, but made sure his face didn't reflect anything unusual to Maureen.

"Honey what bruises did you see on her?" He asked

She shrugged, "There were ones on her wrist and next to her eye. I think she had makeup on it, but it was hot when we were playing hide and seek at recess and she accidentally wiped some off. She acted really weird about it."

"Weird how?" He asked

She shrugged again, "she kept saying they were from soccer and stuff but we didn't even have a game. And then whenever I asked about them she wouldn't answer or would act mean to me."

"Maureen does Emma every talk about her mom and dad?" Elliot brought up casually.

He felt horrible for interviewing his own daughter like his but her friend could be in serious danger. He wasn't getting anything but bad feelings.

"Her mom left or something a little while ago. She doesn't really talk about her dad that much." She answered.

Before he could ask her another question, the door opened with Kathy holding grocery bags and the twins running in around her.

Maureen sniffled and stood up. "Thanks dad, I think I'm ok now" she said with a small smile, and after hugging him, went to her room to do homework.

"Anytime sweetheart" he replied sincerely before she left.

But Elliot knew starting tomorrow, he'd be investigating a new case...

The rest of the night was relatively normal for the Stabler household: family dinner, Kathleen storming off about no one understanding her, the twins throwing food at each other, and helping Maureen with math homework. Pretty soon, everyone was in bed.

For Emma, it was another night. Her father was passed out when she got home, but he woke up soon enough and she had another beating from him. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as soon of the others, but she definitely would have a few more bruises to add to her collection in the morning.

Her fatigue from lack of sleep took over, and without doing any homework, she fell asleep.

At around 1:30 she woke up and panicked, completed her homework, then fell back asleep. She awoke to the sound of the bus beeping.

Tiredly, she yawned and looked up through the window before seeing her bus outside.

Her bus!

Now fully awake, she tore off the covers and got dressed in the first clothes she could find, not even bothering to cover her injuries.

There was no time.

The bus pulled away but Emma knew the route to walk to school.

She couldn't risk spending the day alone with _him._ The thought alone made her shudder.

After pulling her stuff together, she silently let herself out the front door and began speed walking following the bus's route.

What she didn't realize, however, was that her path had her walk right by Elliot's precinct.

Elliot had just parked, and was going to walk inside when the sight of a young girl determinedly weaving in and out of people, by herself stopped him.

Thinking it was just a lost kid that he could help, he stopped the figure as it tried to dart past him.

"Woah there kiddo" he said, stopping the child.

"Where are your parents? Are you lost?" he asked, now repositioning the mystery kid so they were face to face with hi.

"Emma?" He asked, clearly surprised.

His plan was to go call her school then CPS. Why was she there? Why wasn't she in school? And why wasn't she with a parent?

"Emma, are you ok?" He asked, but he already knew the answer...

 **The more you review, the more I'll update :)) remember it just takes an extra 20 seconds**


	6. Chapter 6

_"Emma?" He asked, clearly surprised._

 _His plan was to go call her school then CPS. Why was she there? Why wasn't she in school? And why wasn't she with a parent?_

 _"Emma, are you ok?" He asked, but he already knew the answer..._

"H-hi Mr. Stabler" she said, a little panicked.

 _How could you be so stupid?_ She asked herself.

"Emma why aren't you on the bus to school?" He asked her

"I, um.." she started, eyes darting around to trying and look for an escape route, "I missed the bus this morning."

"Why didn't your parents drive you?" He asked

"My dad was already at work," she lied.

"Emma it's not safe for you to walk all the way to school, especially by yourself" he reminded her

"S-sorry" she said, not sure how to reply.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride to school" he offered gently, opening the door.

As Emma went to put her backpack down, it caught a little on her shirt sleeve and pulled it up a few inches, revealing a dark bruise.

"Sweetheart what happened to your wrist?" Elliot asked, bending down she he was level with her.

"Nothing." She replied firmly, and got in the car.

Elliot sighed and walked around to the driver side to get in.

Elliot was frustrated. He wanted to help the girl but he also couldn't just bring her inside and interview her. She was supposed to be in school and he had no legal cause to. It could be considered kidnapping. Not to mention the fact that he knew her. He had to wait for a school report or something else to bring SVU in. Until he could figure out a better solution, he figured at least she'd be safe in school.

"So how's 5th grade going?" He asked as he drove her.

She shrugged. "It's ok"

"Emma, you know I work for the police, right?" He asked

She nodded, looking out the window.

"So if someone was hurting you, or doing something that you didn't like, you could tell me. I can protect you." He said

"Thanks Mr. Stabler, but I'm ok" she said quietly.

He nodded

A couple minutes later, they arrived at school and he watched her go quickly inside, but couldn't help also noticing a limp when she walked.

He was furious.

Someone was hurting this child and he didn't know who, so he couldn't stop it.

He banged on his steering wheel and drove back to the prescient.

Still upset, he stormed in and sat down at his desk.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" Olivia remarked, putting down a coffee in front of him. "You ok?"

He sighed and took a sip of the coffee.

"Maureen has this friend... I think she's being abused but I-"

"Stabler, Benson- the pizza delivery rapist suspect was put in custody by local police an hour ago. He's in interview one, go" he ordered

The two got up and did as they were told.

Emma rushed into homeroom just as the bell was ringing and sat next to Maureen.

"Hey Maureen" she said

"Oh hi" she replied coldly.

Emma was confused, did she do something wrong?

She looked over towards her teacher desk and saw Ms. Roser and the school nurse talking to Emma's teacher.

She couldn't tell but she could've sworn the kept looking at her.

Annoyed, she put her head down and got started on writing warm up drill for that morning.

Just as she was finishing up, she felt someone tap her on her shoulder.

She flinched instinctively at the touch and turned around to see her teacher standing with the nurse.

"Hey Emma, you're going to go with Nurse Collins for a little. Don't worry about the warm up" she said gently

"A-am I in trouble?" Emma asked, confused.

"No, nothing like that" she answered. "Just gather your things and go with her."

Confused, Emma did as she was told.

The nurse lead her down the hall into the office, and took her into one of the back rooms with a cot for students who needed to rest.

"You can put your things down, sweetheart." She said

Emma did as she was told and stood, unsure, as the nurse washed her hands.

"Why don't you have a seat on the bed?" She said kindly while rolling over a stool.

"Emma do you know why you're in here?" She asked

Emma shook her head slowly.

"Ms. Roser and some of your other teacher have noticed some bruises on you. Can you tell me how you got them?" She asked

Emma shrugged. "Soccer?" It came out sounding like more of a question.

"Well, just because we want to make sure your safe, we called some people who are going to come talk to you and take you to be examined, ok?"

"No!" Emma said, a little too forcefully. "Why can't you just leave me alone? I said I was ok" she said, eyes starting to water.

Elliot and Olivia got the rapist to confess pretty easily. They had too much evidence against him for him to deny anything. Now they were just waiting for Novak to see how he'd be prosecuted.

"We got a case" Cragen announced, walking into the bullpen.

"Possible abuse of a fifth grader, nurses called. They want her to be interviewed. Stabler, Benson- go to the school. Munch, Fin- take over the rape case and brief Casey when she gets here.

Olivia drove, and Elliot didn't even notice where they were going until he pulled into the school's parking lot he was just in that morning.

"Isn't this Maureen's school?" Olivia asked as she turned off the engine.

"Yeah." He answered "and the school her friend goes to.." he said, referring to the girl he was talking to Olivia about earlier.

They walked in and showed their badges and the secretary went and knocked on the door the nurse was in.

"They're here" she informed her.

 **Review if you want the story to be continued!**


	7. Chapter 7

Olivia typically took the lead in these types of interviews, especially now since neither was sure how Emma would feel about Elliot being there.

She gently knocked on the door and opened it, and Olivia and Elliot went in. The nurse excused herself and went back out to the main office, shutting the door behind her so they would have privacy.

Olivia and Elliot sat down across from the examining cot Emma was sitting on.

"Hi sweetheart. My name's Olivia. I'm a police officer, I work with Elliot." She introduced.

Emma acknowledged her with a nod but didn't say anything.

"We wanted to talk to you because some of your teachers have been worried about you, and they noticed some bruises on you. Can you tell us what happened?" She said softly

Emma bit her lip, trying to decide what to do.

"I-I just got hurt in soccer" she repeated to them. "I fall a lot."

"Emma I've seen you play soccer. You're tough, but I haven't seen you get hit that much. And, your team had a bye this weekend" Elliot reminded.

"I was playing with my cousins" she replied

"Emma," Elliot started, "you can tell us the truth. Who's hurting you?"

Emma shook her head.

Elliot waited for her to continue.

"I can't say" she said after a minute, like it was the most obvious thing ever

Olivia nodded, "You can sweetheart. We can protect you from him."

Emma shook her head again. She was determined, and there was no way she'd tell them.

The detectives realized too that she wasn't going to say anything easily.

Elliot sighed. "Emma, the nurse told you that you'd have to be examined, right?"

"No" Emma said flatly.

Olivia could see the strong wall the girl was trying to put up, but in her eyes she could see the fear the child had.

Child abuse cases were always the worst.

"Emma a doctor has to look at you and help your injuries" Olivia explained

"I'm fine." She replied. "If I were injured that badly, I wouldn't be able to come to school. I'm here" she argued

"I saw you limping when you walked in" Elliot said. "And I saw the bruises on your wrist. It can't be too easy to write with those."

"Just let the doctor help you, we'll stay with you" Olivia promised.

Emma realized that she wasn't going to get out of this, so she reluctantly agreed to go to the hospital. She figured she'd have a better chance of escaping there.

On the car ride there, Emma was silent.

And scared.

The detectives could see it written all over her face.

Elliot got out his phone and texted Cragen to update him, and soon enough, they arrived at the hospital.

Cragen had already called the hospital to let them know she was coming, and when they walked in and showed their badges, a pediatric specialist was already waiting and led the trio back into a kids exam room.

 **I don't know if I'm going to continue with this... I don't like the way these last couple chapters turned out. If a good amount of people review that they want it continued, I'll try to continue, otherwise I'll probably scrap it and focus on my other story or start a new one.**


	8. Chapter 8

In the exam room, it was clear that Emma was nervous.

She wasn't even trying to hide it anymore.

"Emma, sweetheart, no one is going to hurt you or do anything you don't want them to." Olivia reminded in a reassuring tone.

"That's not true. I don't want to be examined but you're making me" Emma retorted weakly.

"Emma if no one hurt you then why are you so nervous?" Elliot asked gently.

She crossed her arms in frustration.

"I-" Emma was interrupted by a knock on the door.

She flinched sharply and tried to cover it up, but the detectives saw it.

A young nurse with dark brown hair and green eyes came in carrying a gown. She set it down on a stool next to the exam table.

"Ok sweetheart can you get changed into this for me? The doctor will be in soon." She said in a cheery tone.

Emma slowly reached and took the gown in her hands, but didn't make any moves to put it on.

"You know, I'm going to go call Cragen back, I'll be back in a minute." Elliot said excusing himself to give Emma privacy.

Once he was outside, Emma, frustrated, tried to change into the child's exam gown as quick as she could. She began to pull her shirt off but couldn't stop a small yelp of pain from coming out when she raised her arms so forcefully.

"Here, let me help sweetheart" the nurse said kindly, and walked over.

Before she could protest, the nurse had gently removed Emma's shirt and replaced it with the gown.

Deciding she could trust her, Emma began to remove her leggings and allowed the nurse to pull them off once the pain kept her from finishing getting them off.

The nurse smiled reassuringly and folded Emma's top and leggings, and Elliot came back in followed by a doctor.

The doctor looked young, maybe early thirties, with blond hair that was tied back into a ponytail and a face full of compassion for the young girl she was about to examine.

"Hi Emma. My name is Dr. Robertson, or you can call me Julie. And this is Sara, who you already met." She introduced, shaking Emma's hand.

Emma tried to sit up straight and put on a brave face, but her unease was clear.

The doctor took a seat on a rolling stool.

"I was hoping we could just talk for a little first. Does that sound ok with you?" She asked

Emma nodded, grateful to push the exam off more.

"Do you know why you're here today?" She started

Emma nodded slowly.

"Do you want to tell me about why?" She asked encouragingly.

"They made me come. I don't want to be examined." She said, frustrated.

The doctor nodded her understanding.

"Well I appreciate your honesty. Can you tell me why you don't want to be examined?" She asked.

Emma shrugged, and a few tears started welling up suddenly in her eyes.

"I just... don't want to. I'm sorry" she said, wiping away her tears.

"That's perfectly alright sweetheart. I know this isn't the most fun thing to do, but I promise it's only to help you and I'm not going to hurt you. Does that make sense?" She asked

Emma nodded quickly, still mad at herself for allowing her emotions to show.

"Ok, I'm going to explain everything that I am going to do, and I'll explain it again as I do it."

She paused to see if Emma was listening, and she was.

She just didn't want to be.

"First, I'm just going to do a normal checkup, and check things like your heart and eyes and ears and reflexes like when you usually visit the doctors. Then I'm going to see if there are any injuries like bruises or cuts or rashes and make sure they're doing ok and probably take pictures. Finally I'm going to look quickly at your private parts, just to make sure they're not hurt in any way."

Emma was quickly getting overwhelmed.

She didn't want any doctor looking at her injuries. There were too many.

She definitely couldn't let any doctor see between her legs.

They they'd know.

And her dad would be _so_ mad at her.

Olivia could see the girls expression and silently took and held onto her hand.

"Hey hey, sweetie, no ones going to hurt you. I promise."

Emma nodded slowly then took a shaky breath and turned to the doctor.

"Ok, now if it any point during the exam you want to stop or need to take a break or if I'm ever hurting you, tell me. I'll listen to you I promise. Also, you decide who you want to stay in here tin you. If can be just Elliot or Olivia, or both, or neither."

"Both" she said quickly. She didn't feel safe without them now.

"Ok then" the doctor replied. "Let's get started."

 **A/N- after some more reviews came in I decided to try this chapter. Keep reviewing if you like the story and want it to be continued! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

"Ok" the doctor started, putting her stethoscope into her ears. "Take a big breath in" she instructed, moving the instrument around Emma's back and stomach.

She couldn't help but notice that every time she placed it somewhere new, Emma's body flinched a bit.

She looked back at Elliot after the 4th or 5th time and saw he noticed it too.

She proceeded to check Emma's ears, nose, mouth, and blood pressure.

"Ok, lay back for me" she instructed kindly. "I'm just going to press some parts of your stomach now. If I press a spot and it hurts, let me know and I'll stop, I promise. Ready?"

Emma nodded, staring straight up at the ceiling.

The doctor began to press over the gown, not aware or the bruises all across her chest and stomach.

The first press wasn't too bad, but the second one was directly on a new bruise from the previous nights assault, and Emma let out a small yelp of pain.

"Ok, ok" the doctor soothed, putting her hands up. "I won't press it again. I'm just going to lift your gown to see the area?" She requested.

Emma didn't reply. What could she say at this point?

The doctor gently moved the gown up, covering her legs with a sheet, and exposing her stomach, which was almost completely covered with dark blue and purple welts and bruises.

The young doctor swallowed hard, trying not to let her face reflect the shock she was feeling.

She had seen various abuse cases, but nothing even came close to this.

"Alright Emma, I'm going to take a quick picture of these" she said, taking the camera from the instrument tray, and snapping one.

When the doctor moved aside, the detectives caught sight of the injuries and looked back at each other, eyes full of sadness and anger.

Neither of them could ever understand how anyone could possibly hurt a child like that.

"Ok, and can you turn and lay on your back for me?" She asked.

A tear escaped Emma's eye and she silently turned and laid on the opposite side.

She felt so violated, and judged, and _scared._

She couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of lies she'd have to make up, and the kind of punishment her father would surely give her.

After taking pictures of the welts across her back, the doctor instructed her to turn back around, then photographed her arms and cheek for evidence as well.

"Emma, you're doing great and being so brave. I'm almost finished, but there's one more step. I'm going to have you put your feet in these" she explained motioning to the stirrups at the end of the exam table, "and look between your legs. I'm not going to hurt you, just make sure everything's ok down there. Is that alright with you?" She asked.

She glanced up at the doctor, then to Olivia then Elliot, her eyes desperate to flee.

"You have to?" She whispered in a small, very childlike voice.

Elliot locked eyes with her and could see how alone she looked.

She was just a little girl, just like Maureen.

"Hey, no ones going to hurt you" he said, standing up and taking her hand. "We'll be with you the whole time. I know your scared, but it will be ok, promise."

Olivia smiled. She always admired her partners connection with kids.

Emma contemplated this.

"Ok" she finally whispered, laying back and slowly putting her feet up in the stirrups.

The nurse readjusted the sheet covering her so she could still have some privacy and Elliot gave her hand a reassuring squeeze while the doctor rolled on a stool to the end of the exam table.

"Ok honey you're doing great, I'm just going to put this light on so I can see a little better." She explained.

The doctor was absolutely horrified when she began examining.

Dark bruising covered every inch of her inner thighs, and her genitals were red, raw, and looked infected.

Someone had been brutally raping this girl for at least the last few days.

"Emma I know this is hard but I just need a take one picture." She said, taking it as fast as she could.

Emma was starting to squirm, and from the looks the was getting from Detective Stabler, she knew she didn't have much longer.

"Ok, this is just a regular q-tip, but I'm just going to take a quick swab. Nothing will go in you, just on the outside. Ready?" She asked.

Elliot looked down at Emma, and saw tears slowly falling from her eyes.

"Ok 1, 2, 3" she said, gently swabbing her.

"NO please stop!" She yelled, and shut her legs quickly, fully crying how.

She hugged her knees to her chest and crouched into a ball trying to cover herself, despite the pain she got from going so.

"Emma, Emma its ok" Elliot soothed "You're safe, it's ok."

It took a few minutes for his words to reach her, and when she calmed down she looked up, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry I just got... scared." She mumbled, sniffling.

"It's ok honey, you don't have to apologize. You did great" Olivia reassured, now joining them at the exam table. Let's get you changed and then we can go get something to eat and chat." She said.

Emma nodded. She was ready to tell someone.

 **A/N- it doesn't seem like people are really enjoying this one, which is totally fine! If people want it continued, just review and I'd be happy to, but if not, I'll just focus on other stories :)**


	10. Chapter 10

After getting Emma sweats and a tee shirt from the hospital, Elliot and Olivia drove her back to the precinct and had Chinese food delivered upstairs.

They had taken her into one of the child's interview rooms and sat eating their food.

Elliot and Olivia both tried to make small talk with her to try and build a rapport, but she wasn't focused on what they were saying.

She half heartedly picked at her orange chicken.

Despite not having eaten breakfast and now being hungry for lunch, her stomach was just doing flip flops and she didn't want to eat.

"Do you want something else to eat Emma?" Olivia asked gently, pulling her out of her thoughts and seeing the girl picking around at the container.

"N-no thank you this is good. I'm sorry" she apologized quickly.

Olivia offered a sad smile. "You don't have to apologize sweetheart."

Emma nodded looking down, not convinced.

Olivia and Elliot made eye contact with each other deciding if they should start the interview.

After a moment, Elliot nodded that he'd take the lead on it.

"So Emma, how's everything going?" He said, approaching it broadly to see where she'd take it.

She shrugged. "S'okay" she replied.

"Do you like the 4th grade?" He asked

She nodded. "Yeah. But there's more homework."

The detectives smiled.

"Yeah I bet. So you must have to do a lot of it at home?"

Emma tensed slightly before hesitantly nodding.

"Emma do you have any brothers or sisters?" Olivia asked

Emma shook her head and said, "No, it's just me."

"And do you mom and dad live at home with you?" Olivia followed up.

Emma shook her head no slowly. "It's just my dad."

"When did that happen?" Elliot asked gently.

She shrugged. "A few weeks ago." She answered, not providing any details past that.

"And how is it, living with your dad?" Elliot asked.

"Fine" Emma lied.

"Do you like your teachers at school?" Olivia asked, changing directions some.

"They're nice" Emma said, taking a shaky sip of water.

"And how about the girls you play soccer with, and your coach?" Olivia asked.

"They're nice too.." Emma said, "coach is hard on us sometimes though."

"How so?" Olivia asked in a casual tone, trying to make it feel more like a conversation for Emma.

She shrugged. "He just... makes us work really hard. And he gets mad when we don't win."

"I see" Olivia said, sitting back some.

"Emma, all those people... did any of them ever do anything that you didn't like too much? Or that make you feel uncomfortable?" Elliot asked, trying to maintain eye contact with the young girl.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, slightly confused.

"Did any of them ever hurt you, or maybe touch you in a private place?" He clarified, studying her body language.

She froze slightly and shrugged.

"Emma if you just tell us who, we'll make sure he never hurts you again." Olivia promised.

Emma shook her head no, like she didn't believe them.

"Emma we promise. And we don't break our promises." Elliot offered, finally meeting the young girls eyes, which were filled with tears threatening to fall.

"I know it's hard sweetheart, but you don't have to protect him anymore." Elliot said.

Emma stayed silent for a minute, trying to think about her options. Finally, she gave in.

"M-my dad" she mumbled, very quietly.

"Ok" Olivia said reassuringly. "What does your dad do that you don't like?"

"I don't want to talk about it." She simply said, staring at the floor.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, it's not your fault" Elliot said.

"He hurts me." Emma said. "He hits me a lot and kicks me and throws me onto the ground. And I say stop but he doesn't" she disclosed, hugging her knees to her chest now.

"And what about other ways? Does he do anything else?" Olivia asked.

She sniffled. "Between my legs" she mumbled back, cheeks turning red.

"Between your legs how?" Elliot followed up.

Emma sighed. "He makes me take my clothes off. And he takes his clothes off" she said

"Then what?" Olivia asked

A few more tears escaped the young girls eye.

"Then he puts my legs out wide and puts him in me. And it _hurts._ It hurts really bad." She sniffled.

Olivia took a breath to compose herself.

"Does he do anything else?" She asked

Emma contemplated not telling the rest, but Elliot looked at her and gave her a nod to tell her to continue.

"Once he took it out and then he put it in my mouth. And it tasted bad. But he wouldn't take it out. I- I threw up..." she disclosed, remembering the painful memory.

"Ok Emma, you did so great sweetheart." Olivia said, taking her hand.

More tears began to fall from her bright blue eyes.

"You're going to be ok Emma." Elliot said. "Your dad will never hurt you again."

 **Please be kind and take just a second to review!**


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